May calls for Tory unity

The Conservatives must forget internal squabbling and unite behind leader Iain Duncan Smith, party chairman Theresa May has urged

Mrs May used a speech to the Welsh Conservative Party Conference in Cardiff to try to draw a line under the recent row over the axing of "modernising" officials at Central Office.

This was widely seen as an indication of a shift to the right by Mr Duncan Smith.

Mrs May told activists: "It seems remarkable now that so much was made of so little. Whether this was due to members of the media or members of our party I don't know.

"But I do know that we have now drawn a line under the affair. Now is the time to get behind Iain Duncan Smith and to focus our fire on our opponents. We can't keep talking to ourselves."

Following speculation that the "modernisers versus traditionalists" row might prompt her own resignation Mrs May, who last autumn told the party it had to ditch its "nasty" image, said her seven months as party chairman had been tough but added: "I want to assure you that I have never once thought of giving it up."

"I have said before I am not going to challenge Iain, I'm not going to allow any of my colleagues or friends to get involved in anything like that. I want to see him take us through the next election and win that election," Mr Davis told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

In his own keynote speech to the Tories' local government conference in Coventry, Mr Duncan Smith accused the New Labour Government of reverting to its old ways by using the council tax to squeeze the middle classes for cash.

Mr Duncan Smith also claimed that the Government "fixed" the latest local government settlement to benefit Labour councils.